


Replaced Parts

by Lokiitama



Series: One Shot Prompts [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Delayed Realisation, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Markus whump, One Shot, This was a small prompt challenge, Whump, Written in 26h, hidden wound, maybe more to come? - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:33:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22246393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokiitama/pseuds/Lokiitama
Summary: After an attack during a speech, Markus convinces everyone, including himself, that everything is just fine.
Relationships: Connor & Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Josh & Markus & North & Simon (Detroit: Become Human)
Series: One Shot Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1601422
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47
Collections: Prompt Challenge





	Replaced Parts

All Markus could do when Connor looked his way was give him a half-hearted glare. If he dared ask him _once more_ if he was-

“Are you sure you’re okay, Markus?” The other asked, as if he hadn’t already asked that one million times ever since they came back from that whole fiasco.

Markus sighed deeply, passing a tired hand on his face before he looked back to Connor - who, at least, had the decency to look away, almost bashful.

He knew it was in Connor’s nature to be… paranoid about things, but he was fine, really. It was the others and _Connor himself_ that took the brunt of the attack.

He was practically undamaged, really.

Yet, he replied.

“I’m fine, Connor.” His voice was monotonous. It wasn’t the first time they had this exact same discussion. “What about you?”

Connor shrugged, missing both arms from his body.

* * *

According to how many times Connor had grumbled after the attack, they “should have seen it coming”. 

According to Markus, it was pretty unexpected.

He had been out giving a speech for the media, which had been a common occurrence ever since they had won over their freedom. At this point it almost became routine.

This one had been a bit more official, and as such, Josh, North, Simon and Connor deemed necessary of them to be present. They kind of were the ones standing on the stage with him the night they won, it was normal for all of them to be present on bigger conferences.

_Everything’s gonna be fine_. He had told himself, and North when she immediately started picturing everything awful that could be happening, enhancing Connor’s preconstruction program and himself sharing them, throwing the both of them in an interminable loop of worst-case scenarios. 

Simon was trying to go over their appearances, scolding Markus over the fact his jacket’s zipper was slightly too high, only to complain it was slightly too low a few minutes later.

Josh was going over Markus’ speech once again, to make sure nothing would be an open door to the fickle debates humans loved to get into.

At that moment, for Markus, giving out the speech would probably be the most relaxing part.

Of course, he couldn’t foresee some of the journalists were also part of an unknown armed anti-android group the DPD had only heard rumours about and still struggled to find a good lead on. He couldn’t foresee either that those journalists had actually managed to bring weapons in the conference room.

The first bullet hit Simon, who froze as soon as he saw the gun. Almost all of them had taken cover, except for Connor who ran straight to the humans. 

A lot of bullets were still flying to close to Simon who had slumped to the ground. Surprisingly, it was North that tried to get to him to take him to safety.

She quickly fell over Simon, as bullets hit them both.

In the few seconds that followed, Markus couldn’t hear guns anymore, but the distinctive grunts of people fighting and the sound of crushing. Surely, it meant Connor managed to handle them.

Josh ran to the two other leaders.

Markus didn’t have such luck, as, as soon as he came out, a pair of hands caught him by the collar - effectively ripping his zipper - and slammed him into the nearest wall. 

His whole HUD flickered for an instant, mere seconds before he received a kick around his abdomen, making him double over. Markus received another kick, and it took a bit more than he liked to admit before he managed to run his preconstruction program and stop a foot from hitting him right on pump.

Soon after that, the police arrived. Most of the anti-androids members had been knocked out, but they had done their damage.

As a result, two weeks later, Simon and North were still under repairs, diagnostics running on them almost 24/7. Josh almost didn’t manage to sleep, as he compulsively checked on the two of them, as well as Connor and Markus .

Connor had had both of his arms damaged beyond recognition, and it was a miracle the joints in his torso were still intact. They were still waiting for his replacement arms.

Markus?

Sure, he had had a little bleed from one of the dents a kick made him, but he was fine. Any uneven parts of his chassis had been popped back into place, and his synthetic skin was already covering his body once more - unlike Simon, North and Connor.

Yet, Connor kept asking him if _he_ was fine, saying his stress levels were higher than usual.

Markus honestly was at loss on how to explain to Connor that he was _just fine_ , and that if he was stressed, maybe it was because two of his best friends were still not waking up, and Connor himself was _armless_.

The detective would ask him every time Markus would rub his legs. More specifically, his knees. Everytime he was stressed for a long while, the joints that were linked to his replaced legs would be the weakest. Some other times, he would start hearing funny from one ear. Or his blue eye would start twitching uncontrollably.

Connor turned to him again

“But… you’re _sure_ you’re okay, Markus?”

Markus groaned in his palm.

* * *

Thankfully, on the middle of the third week, both Simon and North woke up. They would need some regular checks for roughly 3-4 months, so they could ensure themselves their systems would be stable and normal.

And it was mere days after that Connor’s arms arrived in New Jericho. Once they were plugged back in, Markus was able to see his shoulders relieve some tension, and Connor’s stress levels decrease.

He had not been seen without his coins dancing between his fingers for the following days.

However, as soon as he got a green flag from Josh - who finally, _finally_ , started to go in stasis again - Connor was out from New Jericho and back to the DPD.

He was impatient about completing cases and getting back in the swing of things.

As guilty as he felt about that, Markus was kind of glad he went back there. Connor was a helpful asset to New Jericho and the android cause, and he related to him in many ways. But the past weeks had thinned his patience with the other android constantly asking him if he was fine, and always following him everywhere to make sure he would not get attacked.

That night, after checking on his three best friends again, Markus went into stasis.

Finally, he would finally start relaxing a bit.

He still had a bit of free time the next day. Maybe he could try to paint something. It had been a while since he put his mind to rest and just let his emotions flow on the canvas.

* * *

Markus woke up falling.

He quickly caught himself before he ended up sprawled on the ground and painful notifications popped in his field of view.

**_COMPONENT #8427g CONNECTIVITY ERROR…_ ** _LAUNCHING REPAIR PROGRAM_

**_COMPONENT #6847j CONNECTIVITY ERROR…_ ** _LAUNCHING REPAIR PROGRAM_

His knee joints creaked slowly as he sat down on the ground, waiting for the repair program to do his job.

Although it was concerning, Markus wasn’t surprised. His legs weren’t exactly brand new, and occasionally got a few bugs when his stress levels were too high for too long.

This bug was a new one though.

**_COMPONENT #8427g - CONNECTED_ **

**_COMPONENT #6847j - CONNECTED_ **

He probably would speak about this to the technicians the next morning. 

He went back in stasis.

* * *

“Markus!! North glitched out!”

Markus jumped awake as Josh entered his room without warning. It took him only a second longer to understand what he had said.

They quickly made their way to the technician wing. A few errors and bugs coming from his legs popped in his HUD but Markus was quick to dismiss it. It wasn’t important at the moment. 

When they arrived, North was plugged to a machine, held aloft by the neck, synthetic skin nowhere to see. It was strange seeing her without the long hair she loved to style in many different ways.

Her eyes flickered weakly towards him before they glassed over at the same time her whole body tensed. She grunted weakly.

Markus eyed the technician that was frantically typing on the machine’s commands, eyes flickering all over the screen.

“What’s wrong with her?” He demanded as calmly as he was able to - which wasn’t much- as he approached the android.

“I don’t understand!” Came the panicked reply. The android’s LED was alternating between red and yellow. “This shouldn’t be happening! Her battery keeps decreasing and… and-”

Markus quickly offered an interface to the technician as he started panicking. Josh did the same. Interfacing would be much easier to fully understand the problem.

**_STRESS LEVELS ^^78%_ **

The android’s stress level made Markus clench his fist for an instant, as he received an onslaught of worries and anxieties before receiving any information about North.

She was quickly losing battery. It came under the form of attacks, or strokes. Where, had she not been restrained by the machine, she would have trashed around, or lost control of herself. Her battery level was getting too low for comfort. It neared the 25% mark.

Not only that, but he had only seen through the current reports her blood had been contaminated by an unknown substance. It was probably the reason she had the strokes to begin with, but they had no idea what the substance was, nor how to remove it at this point in time.

If she passed out, her systems wouldn’t be able to single out the contamination and it could mean that she’d shutdown for good.

Thirium and replacement parts were hard to come by at the moment. Their blue blood reserves were low. Very low.

The interface stopped and Markus bit back a groan when a high pitched noise seemed to slam itself in his right ear. Dozens of notifications about his legs polluted his vision. He dismissed them all.

“I’m going to fetch more thirium!” Josh exclaimed once the interface was over. Without wasting any more seconds, he was out of the door.

If they didn’t do something for North fast, she wouldn’t make it.

Looking back at her, she was not only plugged to the machine the technician resumed his work on, but also to a tinier one. A portable recharging device.

It wasn’t as effective as a proper stasis station though.

She would keep losing batteries even with that attached to her.

Markus pursed his lips.

There was only one thing he could do.

He approached North and unplugged the end of the cable that was in the recharging device.

He could distantly hear the technician trying to protest, but Markus swiftly opened his neck port and inserted the cable.

He took hold of North’s hand, caressing the white chassis for a second as her body slumped back from the end of the stroke.

They interfaced.

The high-pitched noise in his ear was getting louder. He could feel the strain it put on his eye. His legs started trembling again.

But all of this was nothing next to North’s exhaustion. She barely had the energy to interface back. Markus closed his eyes and started transferring his energy to her. It would most likely tax him and his batteries, but he could recharge in maybe a few days. North was a bigger priority.

He couldn’t let her down.

Josh came back not long after, but Markus had been concentrating elsewhere. His energy levels were already starting to get in the low range. And he had a notification about his right knee that repeatedly came every 2 minutes.

His friend took charge of giving thirium back to North.

At least, if anything, it didn’t make her battery levels go any lower. Markus allowed himself a glance at the technician, who was now still working as fast, but at least was way less panicked.

It took one more hour and Markus’ batteries to drop to 18% when the technician pinpointed the cause of the contamination. One of the bullets had been hidden when they patched her up. They would only need to take it out and then North would have to stay as much in stasis as she could, to recuperate.

Probably, she would have to come either longer or more often than Simon had to.

When North was finally stabilized, and that her synthetic skin was finally turning back on - her hair was undone and messy - Markus allowed himself to take the charging device off his neck and put it back where it was originally. 

As he bent to plug it, his knees creaked loudly.

**_WARNING : COMPONENT #8427g DAMAGE_ **

_DAMAGE : MINOR_

_REPAIR SOFTWARE LAUNCHING_

Markus winced slightly.

Right. He wanted the technicians to have a look at his legs sooner than later but…

He looked up. Josh and the technician were both talking, reporting how much thirium was left in stock. Markus also knew that they were low on replacement parts since they couldn’t find arms for Connor.

There was also the fact that the technician was still not done checking up on North. She may have been stabilized, and maybe she was passed out at the moment, but it didn’t mean she was fully out of danger.

Her batteries level were still low, and she needed to rest.

And obviously, the technician was going to resume his work soon enough. 

Markus could wait some more, the others took priority. It wasn’t exactly a secret - amongst his friends at least - that his legs were not of the same caliber as the rest of his body. 

Besides, he still had a good amount of paperwork to deal with. That definitely didn’t require his legs, nor much batteries. 

For today, the self-repair software would suffice. He could still go to the technician later. When North would be completely out of danger.

He notified Josh of the rest of his days, trying not to make it too obvious more than 80% of his energy levels were gone already. His friend didn’t have to worry even more when all he needed was a night of rest. Josh was already anxious enough as it was.

If he walked a bit slower to his office, Markus told himself it was because he really didn’t want to do the paperwork. He might have been able to complete it much faster than a human would have, it was still a boring task. Especially making sure that every word was clear, and that the contracts he was signing with CyberLife for the components supplies didn’t have any subtext or deals that would put their freedom in danger.

His batteries had reached 10% when Connor called him. There were the usual exchanges, such as what they both had been doing lately. Usually, it was paperwork for the both of them. Although sometimes he got to hear about a case or two, when Connor could legally disclose it, or when it regarded an android. This time, Connor asked if he was okay. Again.

Markus didn’t let the sigh pass through the communication. Even when Connor was away, he was still worrying about him. He really just needed rest. 

“Are you sure? You sound tired.” Came Connor’s voice. He was always straight-to-the-point. He was talking to him as if he was trying to understand where Markus was hiding drugs.

Markus peeked momentarily at the notifications about his legs, before concentrating back on the inventory of supplies they had.

“I assure you Connor, I am _fine_. I’m just slightly stressed out by what happened to North.”

Connor had tried to argue some more - but he quickly heard the gruff voice of none other than the Lieutenant Hank Anderson telling his partner to “leave the guy alone already. He’s your friend, not a suspect.”

One day, Markus would send a gift to this man for the many times he had helped him cut the conversation about his health short.

Once the call ended, Markus’ batteries were down to 9%.

Thankfully, he only had a couple of hours to go through before he could call today a day.

**_BATTERY LEVELS LOW : 3%_ **

PLEASE GO TO THE CHARGING STATION A.S.A.P.

And a couple of hours it had been. Markus stood up, shaky on his legs. They never had trembled that hard before. Yet, he hadn’t let his batteries drop so low before.

Every step he took, notifications about the state of his legs would pop in front of his eyes. He had tried to dismiss them at first, but it quickly got exhausting. So he just gave up and limped to his room, helping himself with the wall when he knees buckled in a dangerous way.

He just needed some rest. Tomorrow, his stress levels would go down again because North would be in great shape and ready to do everything she was doing before. His batteries would probably be back over _at least_ 60% and all those notifications about his defective parts would stop.

Entering stasis had never felt this good.

* * *

**_BATTERY LEVELS : 46%_ **

**_WARNING : COMPONENT #8427g DAMAGE_ **

_DAMAGE : MINOR_

**_WARNING : COMPONENT #6847j DAMAGE_ **

_DAMAGE : MINOR_

_REPAIR SOFTWARE LAUNCHING_

When he woke up, his right eye took longer to open and focus, and a soft high pitch noise was echoing in his ear. His estimation was almost 20% off. That wasn’t a good thing but he should’ve been able to go around the day with that.

His legs probably took most of the energy as he was sleeping.

Almost on auto-pilot, Markus went in the room where North was still plugged in.

This time, she was awake. She smiled at him when he entered.

“Thank you…” She then said, looking down a bit, playing with her fingers. As much as she understood feelings, she was still often embarrassed when expressing softer ones. It was an unusual look on her.

Markus smiled back, sitting down on her bed next to her.

“I did what I had to do.” He said.

That comment only got him an elbow in the side, and North huffing at him, her usual pout back in her face. “You know what I meant, you idiot.”

Markus nudged her back, chuckling. He looked at the charging device she was still plugged to. It seemed to have done her good. However if she was still plugged…

“What did the doctor say?” He asked

North clicked her tongue. If that didn’t mean great news already, the absolute disgust she had on her face was more than enough as an explanation. She probably had to stay longer than she wanted- and longer than he had anticipated.

It probably didn’t help her morale that she was one of the organizers for group activities between androids that also acted as therapy. The activity could barely hold itself without her during the weeks where she was unconscious, and it would probably have to be forgotten for today too.

She didn’t say it, but Markus knew that those activities were as helpful to her as it was to others. It was one of the things she got the most excited about when it wasn’t about fighting. The way she had prepared a brand new activity or a game for her scheduled organisation.

“Do you want me to take care of your class?” Maybe he could try to cheer her up a little. He had a speech to give tomorrow, but it was already planned and ready, since he had had a lot of time to kill after the attack. He had time.

“Whatever floats your boat.” North replied. She would have denied the utter hope there was on her face if he had made her notice.

It was a yes then. He asked her more specifics on what she wanted to do, and she provided. They wanted to make a theater play all together, and today would be the day where everyone would be rehearsing with the text, for the first time.

He left her side when Simon and Josh came in to check on her. He caught up a bit with the two of them, but soon enough it was time to handle the group activity.

* * *

The activity had been a fun one. Markus would probably ask North to join in more often, if he had the time. 

However, it didn’t help his predicament at all. Even if his legs finally finished the repairs, it left him with not much energy, and the high pitched noise became louder and louder as the day went on. 

He really hoped he would get back enough energy during this stasis. 

He couldn’t bother the technicians yet. Not when North was still under their watch. Not when Josh was so stressed. Not when Simon had experienced a tiny glitch around the bullet wound that made his synthetic skin flicker out for a second.

He was used to the pain from his replaced parts. 

He closed his eyes.

* * *

**_BATTERY LEVELS : 67%_ **

This time, when he woke up, everything was calmer. His battery was a bit higher - not as high as he would’ve expected, but it would do. The noise was gone, and his legs didn’t seem to have any problems.

When he opened his eyes, the right one blinked away, twitching unexpectedly. This was fine though. If it was only the eye, he could control it easily. It usually was the first one to start having small glitches if his battery was low, or his stress levels were high.

He had to prepare for the speech. 

Saying that his stress levels hadn’t slightly elevated as he passed his hand over the zipper jacket he had worn during the attack would have been a lie. Thankfully, he managed to get over himself quickly, and chose something just as fast.

He had to meet up with Connor a bit before the speech, as it regarded the attack, and he needed him for the legal part of it. Markus would also definitely feel safer with Connor by his side. Knowing that Simon and North couldn’t come, and that Josh was busy helping the technicians made him nervous. He was very thankful he didn’t have to go alone.

When he met up with Connor, he could feel his brown eyes analyzing every inch of him even before they greeted each other. Obviously, he was still not trusting him about being fine… At least he hadn’t asked this time. It may have helped Markus willed his eye not to twitch. It was one of the things Connor enjoyed worrying about.

He would also have to keep his eye under control during the speech.

When he stepped up on the stage, approaching the wooden podium, he felt his thirium pump start beating slightly faster. Would there be another attack? Was another of those journalists an anti-android group member in disguise? 

Markus pursed his lips, looking down to his notes, even though he knew them by heart.

He started his speech.

It went without a hitch. He had almost lost control of his voice at a moment, when a journalist shifted a bit faster than they usually did, but it had been harmless. He knew Connor would have had the situation under control, as he didn’t feel the other’s eyes for one second on his back when he gave his speech.

Connor’s part quickly came in, and he disclosed all he could about the attack. They were still investigating, but the situation was under control.

Markus glanced toward him. He could see Connor’s shoulders tense.

He was already a tense and nervous android to begin with, but it was accentuated today. He guessed that the attack also had been a stressful experience for Connor, as much as he was used to action thanks to his job.

Soon enough, the speech ended, he bid farewell with Connor, and only when Markus was back in a taxi towards New Jericho that he took off the quarantine on the notifications that had nothing to do about the speech.

Instantly, he felt a dozen of them free themselves to glare their red light in his vision. His eye twitched more than ever, and Markus could swear his eye lost its skin for a second. The noise had came back now piercing from his right ear to his left, as if it was sawing inside his head. 

Markus gritted his teeth, trying to endure it as best as he could.

He almost didn’t hear the sound the taxi made when he stayed for too long inside the car when they had already arrived at his destination. 

He directly went to his room, wishing nothing but the quietness of stasis to envelop him.

Closing his eyes was blissful.

* * *

_He felt the rain pour down on his body, a small part of the water pooling inside his eye. Every sound was half garbled. There were broken songs and moans full of static. Everything was red. He was in danger. Hands were grabbing him._

Markus woke up.

**_BATTERY LEVELS : 31%_ **

He was on the ground. The notification in his HUD were firing off like crazy. It said his eye was missing, that there were internal damage caused by mud and water. His ears could hear everything yet he was sure it was missing. He was sure it was-

A whirr snapped him back to reality.

He was in his room. He was not in the scrapyard. He was in his room, on the ground.

His pump regulator was doing the whirring noise. He was fine. He had just panicked because of a _flashba-_ a nightmare. It was just a nightmare

He was fine.

Everything was fine.

* * *

Simon was sitting quietly in the improvised library of New Jericho. He had explained to him that he always had a special liking to books. It was thanks to him they started having their own library. Sometimes, some androids were gathered on the small table in the corner of the room, writing their time away. Simon liked to relax by taking care of the library. Putting books in order, trying to see which ones they could try to acquire next. On occasions, he joined the small club of writers that had formed itself amongst androids.

It was for this reason Markus had come to see him that day. Since the bullet’s damage was still being slightly repaired by his programs, it was preferable he didn’t move as much. As a result, the library’s book were not as neatly organized, and he couldn’t do half the work he enjoyed doing. So ever since he woke up, Simon had been writing idly in the corner of the library, or organizing which books to get first when they would get the occasion.

Being surrounded by stories that had nothing to do with _hundreds of bodies piled up amongst the mud and chemicals_.

His right eye twitched for three seconds straight.

Simon turned to him, smiling as he held a small pile of books to hand to Markus. “So I decided to start writing a short novel, you know? I don’t have much to do otherwise.”

He helped the blonde put the books back in their place as he started telling him the plot of his story.

Everytime he had a small glitch around his ear or eye, Simon would have been turning away. And none of the notification about his legs were critical. Everything would be fine. He couldn’t let them worry. Not now.

Later.

It wasn’t the time to show weakness. Not when some of them were still recovering.

He kept asking questions about Simon’s story, asking why his main character wouldn’t do something much simpler instead of this whole complicated route. It was pretty fun to have Simon get flustered over it, before he made a work around. 

In the end, Markus had both helped cleaning up the library, but also had helped Simon plot out a good majority of his story. The more he had been speaking about it, the more he got excited over it. It was really endearing to see Simon.

Before they won their freedom, he had never expressed himself much. Or didn’t allow himself to explore what he enjoyed.

Markus guessed he had had a special treatment on that part regarding his past before he became deviant himself.

* * *

During the afternoon, he had paid North a visit, just as the high-pitched noise came back in full force.

Judging by the way she was complaining loudly, she wouldn’t be staying in the technician wing for much longer. She was already much more lively. It was reassuring.

He didn’t chat very long with her however, as Josh contacted him for some help concerning the latests components that had arrived.

Most of what they had asked for had been thirium. However there were other vital components such as thirium pump regulator, some thirium-conducting cables, and a few more internal components that would definitely make their technician’s lives easier. There was a few pair of arms as well. The Connor incident had left its mark.

They quickly put it back in order in the stocks, so it was easily accessible.

Markus took a look, checking if they had enough spare parts, like legs, or a right eye. But none of that were in stock. Of course they weren’t. It wasn’t core components. Androids could live a few weeks without those. Connor had proved so at least.

“Thanks for your help, Markus” Josh said, as he put away the last box of thirium packs. Markus had to do an extra effort to concentrate on what Josh was saying. The noise in his ears was too loud. “I have to go check over North again, but she should be able to get out tomorrow. Would you like taking a walk all together tomorrow? Connor might join in too. It’s his off day and he talked about the human’s dog, Sumo.”

On any normal day, Markus would have whole-heartedly agreed, but he was too worried about the recent problems on his replaced parts. Maybe it would have been better spending the day inside, to rest and relax. He would be able to fully get rid of the problem then. 

He found a quick excuse - paperwork, mostly, which wasn’t untrue, and then left Josh to his own business as he went in his office.

He didn’t do any paperwork that evening.

* * *

_The pieces fizzled next to his port, before he heard the cluttering of it entering the side of his head. The pieces quickly installed himself and everything was loud. The wind was howling, the rain was clattering over debris of plastimetal. He could hear an android brokenly singing the same verse of Sakura, Sakura. She wasn’t functioning anymore. It was just a bug. Half her body was missing. A hand took hold of his ankle and he fell face first onto components he could barely recognize anymore._

Markus woke up, but it was as if he was still in the scrapyard.

* * *

As he was walking Sumo in company of Josh, Simon and North, Connor felt something _wrong_ settle in his components. He had been talking about the speech they had given with Markus, and how Markus was oddly… more machine like. It was almost imperceptible, and he couldn’t ask him how he felt in public, without having journalists trying to nip in every single conversation.

North had butted in, telling she had seen some notifications from Markus’ HUD from when he had interfaced with her when she was having her strokes. His legs were not in a great state.

Simon had also brought his grain of salt. Markus’ eyes had been twitching a lot. He hadn’t said anything because he could see how much Markus was trying to not let it show but it had worried him. He wanted to use this special occasion to speak about it to him, but he had turned down the offer.

And Josh had been the last straw. Markus had been dazing out, taking more time to focus on words. As if he didn’t hear well. 

That was it.

Connor had begun to speed walk toward Hank’s house, leaving the rest of his… friends? Allies? Leaving the rest of them behind. He _knew_ Markus had been lying to him ever since the beginning. 

He nearly busted the door open and let Sumo back in, startling Hank who was watching some cartoons on the TV. He barely said anything that he called in a taxi to meet him up ASAP.

Markus had better not let himself go for the worst. Markus would be fine, and he would be fine _for real_.

He had _lied._ That was _bad._

When he reached New Jericho, Markus’ office was empty. The papers he had said he’d be doing were still not done.

The repair room was empty.

The library was empty.

Markus’ workshop was empty.

The _wrong_ that churned around his pump only started growing and growing. Making itself bigger and meaner. 

Markus _had_ to be fine. Like he had said so many times.

Connor stood in front of Markus’ bedroom. 

There was a faint whirring noise coming from it. He opened the door.

_ANALYSING…_

_STRESS LEVELS ^^^ 87%_

_NEW OBJECTIVE : CALM DOWN MARKUS IMMEDIATELY_

He rushed to Markus’ side, contacting his three best friends. He didn’t know how to deal with this by himself.

“Markus!” He exclaimed, when shaking the other’s shoulder wasn’t enough to snap him back to reality. 

He shook him harder. It didn’t work. 

He tried snapping his fingers in front of his face. Markus’ synthetic skin was completely removed over the right eye. Looking down, he could see his bare feet without the skin as well.

_ANALYSING…_

_STRESS LEVELS ^^^89%_

Connor cursed. What could he do? Markus’ regulator was doing more and more noise. He had to snap him out of it. 

He had to know what was wrong. Connor took Markus’ arm in his hand, revealing his chassis. He hated to do this in general, and something told him he would hate it even more right now. 

They interfaced.

_“There’s a place where we can be free!” The android was gripping him with iron fists. He could barely push himself away. “Find Jericho!” The grip finally loosened. “Find Jericho…”_

Connor immediately stopped the interface.

It didn’t take very long to deduce Markus was stuck in a memory loop. And Connor _certainly_ didn’t want to stay there any longer to live through the entirety of it.

He had to make Markus realise he wasn’t in… whatever that place was.

He raised his hand to slap him to consciousness, but his eyes caught the glint of a stereo. Music? Maybe an external stimuli like music would help?

He quickly connected to the device, and played the last music it was stuck on. It was a calm melody. He turned back to Markus.

_ANALYSING…_

_STRESS LEVELS v74%_

The whirring of the regulator started slowing down.

Simon, North and Josh busted in the room right as Markus’ synthetic skin was starting to cover his body back.

They asked him what had happened. Connor answered them at the best he could. He knew they often complained about him talking as if he was giving news to reporters about a case, but this time, he probably wouldn’t get any comments about it.

It took a few more minutes before Markus groaned. They all held their figurative breath. 

He opened his eyes.

Connor was the first to speak.

“You said you were _fine_!”

Markus groaned again, eyes darting around, and taking a bit more time on the four people in the room. Most of them looked like a mix of pissed and worried.

“I... “ He began, voice slightly filled with static. “I think I need a technician.”

“You _think_?” Came the exasperated reply from Simon.

“You’re a fucking _moron_ Markus!” He was pretty sure that if he hadn’t been down already, North would have hit him.

“You _know_ you can always ask for help, what the heck are we for if you don’t?” Josh took him by the arm to help him stand up.

When he couldn’t stand on his legs, Connor came to help, putting Markus’ arm around his shoulders, and Josh doing the same on the other one.

It was time to pay a visit to the technician.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Thank you for reading this one shot! 
> 
> It was part of a challenge we gave ourselves with [TNKT](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TNKT/) to just write for the pleasure of writing, and we ended up sharing it with our respective servers! We had 26h to write something on the two following prompts: Hidden Wound (bigger part of the prompt) and Delayed Realisation (for the background trope).
> 
> As part of this, it was the first time I wrote Markus, and this fic was not proof-read, nor betaed. I hope there wasn't too much errors weesh!
> 
> It was a blast writing it and I hope you enjoyed it as well!


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